Understanding Digestion in Children: Fiber-Rich Sack Lunches to Help Ease Constipation

Most kids don’t get enough fiber in their daily diet -- and that can lead to a host of digestive problems, the most obvious of which is constipation. Fiber doesn’t get digested by the human body, so it moves through your digestive tract and cleans up the pipes -- allowing a smoother, easier passage for waste products.
So one of the best ways to keep your child regular and promote his digestive health is to feed him plenty of fiber. Instead of sitting him down at the counter with a big bowl of bran flakes, try these dietitian-approved, kid-friendly snacks and lunch items that will go down easy in every way.

Homemade Trail Mix

Help kids make their own trail mix by putting out bowls of dried fruit, nuts, or seeds along with a higher-fiber cereal, and mixing them up into to-go containers or plastic bags, recommends Louise Goldberg, RD, LD, owner of An Apple A Day Nutrition Consulting in Houston, Texas, and formerly a dietitian at the Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Houston Medical Center. (Just be sure to minimize the sugary “treat” ingredients, like chocolate chips or other candies.)

Flavorful Fruits and Veggies

Many fruits and vegetables are high in fiber --particularly with the skin on. If your child resists them, try making them fun by spearing fruit and veggie slices onto a kebab, or making a face with sliced-up fruits and veggies, suggests Beth Pinkos, MS, RD, LDN, a dietitian for the department of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, nutrition, and liver diseases at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Rhode Island.
“You can use raisins for eyes, baby carrots for a nose, and celery for eyebrows, and an apple slice for a smile,” she says.
Remember not to give carrots to children younger than 3 or raisins to kids younger than 4 as they can be a choking hazard.

Creamy Dips

Kids who resist fiber-rich fruits and veggies may also be more adventurous if they can dip them in something first -- like yogurt, peanut butter, salad dressing, or hummus.

Mixed-Up Cereals

Having trouble getting your child to try that whole-wheat fiber cereal? Try mixing up a couple of high-fiber cereals with a small amount of one of the less good-for-you options that your child may be drawn to in the cereal aisle.
“Kids like to mix and match cereals like little chemists,” says Pinkos. “Look for a high-fiber cereal that has 3 to 5 grams of fiber per serving, and then let them mix it up with just a little bit of one of the junkier ones.”

Sandwich in Some Fiber

Just as with cereal, the whole-grain breads or wraps you’re using for your kids’ sandwiches should have at least three grams of fiber per serving.
“Check the package -- just because it’s called ‘whole grain,’ that doesn’t always translate to fiber,” says Goldberg. “And don’t be fooled by red- and green-colored wraps -- that doesn’t necessarily translate to fiber either.”

Article By Gina Shaw,  Reviewed By Hansa D. Bhargava, MD

Could Hot Cocoa Improve brain perfomance in the Seniors?

Small early study hints it\'d facilitate, however author says it\'s ahead of time to suggest nightly cup
A preliminary new study links 2 cups of hot cocoa per day to improved memory skills in seniors World Health Organization had low levels of blood flow in their brains.

So, do you have to begin stocking au fait Swiss Miss? Not essentially.
The analysis is simply too restricted to prove that cocoa directly boosted the brain of these with lower blood flow within the brain, and therefore the findings do not say something concerning semipermanent effects. additionally, drinking 2 cups of a sweet drink daily might cause or worsen fleshiness, that is joined to declines in brain operate.


"Before we tend to suggest cocoa, it is vital to travel back and make out what is in it that is doing this and make certain it\'s property,\" same study author Dr. Farzaneh Sorond, AN professor of neurology at Harvard graduate school. \"I would like folks to wait till we tend to make out a way to get the profit while not the calories, the sugar and the fat that comes in cocoa.\"

Still, the analysis is permitting scientists to induce a stronger handle on a somewhat mysterious topic -- the flow of blood within the brain. The brain cells called neurons want fuel to try and accomplish their job, and blood provides it.

\"The brain may be a greedy organ, with simply two p.c of body mass and twenty p.c of energy necessities,\" explained St. Andrew Scholey, director of the middle for Human materia medica at Algernon Charles Swinburne University in the Australia. \"It requires a relentless provide of blood to deliver the metabolic fuels of aldohexose and chemical element. Blood flow to the brain reduces with aging, and this correlates with psychological feature [mental] decline.\"

Previous analysis has joined cocoa, that is found in chocolate, to health edges. within the new study, researchers wished to seek out out if it\'d have an effect on blood flow within the brain, and brain itself.

The researchers recruited sixty folks with a mean age of seventy three and assigned  them to thirty days of either drinking cocoa made in flavanol -- that is joined to improved blood flow -- or drinking cocoa that is low in flavanol, The special cocoa was provided by Mars INC., however the corporate did not have the other role within the study.

Eighteen folks had impaired blood flow within the brain once the study began. the majority of the sixty participants had high vital sign and [*fr1] had a type of polygenic disease. the majority -- eighty five p.c -- were white.

Brain blood flow improved by a mean of eight p.c by the top of the study in those participants whose levels were low at the start. There was no result among the others World Health Organization had traditional blood flow.

Those with lower blood flow conjointly performed higher on memory tests, rising the time they required to complete tasks (dropping from a mean of 167 seconds to 116 seconds), however it is not clear what this could mean in day-after-day life. Again, those with regular blood flow levels did not improve.

By  Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter at WEBMD